Manufacture of fuel blocks or briquets.



E. R. SUTCLIFFE. v MANUFACTURE OF FUEL BLOCKS 0R BRIQUETS.

I APPLICATION FILED MAR- 27. I915.

Patented May 28,191&

'W'i'tnesses- Inventor Wm 0/ MM .dttorn ey EDGAR ROUSE SUTCLIFFE, or LEIGH, ENGLAND, nssrenon T0 PURE COAL BRIQUETTES LIMITED, 0F CARDIFF, WALES.

MANUFACTURE OF FUEL BLOCKS 0R BRIQUETS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 28, 1918.

Application filed Marchfi'i, 1915. Serial No. 17,504.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDGAR RoUsE SUT- GLIFFE, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at Leigh, Lancashire, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements Relating to the Manufacture of Fuel Blocks or Briquets, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the manufacture of fuel blocks or briquets and has for its objcct to produce a fuel wholly from coal, or coal waste or slack, by a simple process of compression, and under conditions that permit of manufacture with economy under commercial conditions.

The invention is of especial application to coal that according to its character is more or less ditficult to form into briquets by compression without a binder. It is, however, also applicable to carbonaceous substances resembling coal viz :anthracite or coke which are difiicult or impossible to briquet without a binder.

The invention is confined to the difiicultly briquetable carbonaceous substances, indicated,-of the character of coal, and by the term carbonaceous substances in the claims is only meant coal, and anthracite or coke used in the manner hereinafter described, and the invention is limited thereto.

The invention has also for its object to produce blocks or briquets that are hard, dense or waterproof and that are liable to disintegration and breaking up neither on exposure to the weather nor in carriage and transport, and that moreover when burnt in an open grate are wholly consumed and when used under forced draft, for example, in the furnaces of steam boilers are not liable to clinker when made from coal having a normal content of ash. A fuel is thus provided superior to the coal from which it Was produced.

According to the invention hard, dense and waterproof blocks or briquets are produced having the characteristics indicated by the comminution of the raw material to a substantially uniform condition of extreme fineness represented by the greater part of the material passing through a screen of 200 meshesto the linear inch, and by subjecting the raw material to compression a high degree under conditions thatpernnt of' the lateral expansion of the block or briquet under the internal stresses created within it as the result of the compression, so that thus strains are not imposed that result in the imperfect consolidation of the block or briquet or that result in laminations or cracks therein. Such conditions of compression can be produced in various ways, for example, they may be produced in the employment of a tapered mold in which the block or briquet may be moved during compression to permit of its lateral expansion in a larger part of the mold, or in the interval between successive compressions, or they may be produced in the use of a divided mold capable of being opened to permit of lateral expansion of the block on compression and its release from the mold without imposing upon the block any undue stress such as would impair its solidity.

In carrying the invention into effect in the utilization, for example, of the slack of ordinary semi-bituminous coal, I reduce the raw material into a condition of extreme fineness, or flour, advantageously in a tube mill, so that the condition of the comminuted substance is such that the greater part will pass through a screen of 200 meshes, the remainder being also in a condition of extreme fineness. The coal in this very fine condition without any other treatment, being dry, is then subjected to compression under conditions that permit of the lateral expansion of the block 'or briquct under the stresses imposed as the result of the high pressure to which it is subjected.

The invention is hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which' Figure 1 represents a diagrammatic sectional elevation of the mold and plungers of an hydraulic press in which the method of the invention can be carried out.

Fig. 2 shows in elevation the shape of the block produced.

In carrying the invention into effect in the compression or consolidation of the very finely divided coal, I may employ an hydraulic press for the purpose, adapted to apply a pressure for example up to ten tons per square inch. Such a press I provide, as illustrated in Fig. 1, with a tapered mold a. The compression of the very finely divided coal (Z within the mold may be effected by the operation of thetwo movable plungers b and c where the mold a is fixed, or bythe' movablejplnnger 6 operating against the till fixed abutment c, where the mold a is provided to move in a direction parallel with the axes of the plunger and abutment for moving the block within the mold during compression, in the interval between successive compressions or after compression in the mold.

In operation the very finely comminuted substance or llcur (Z is fed into the mold a. The mold a may then be lifted so that the fixed abutment c covers and enters the top of the mold a. Pressure may then be applied to the movable plunger Z), whereby the very finely comminuted substance (Z is compressed, and the compressed block may be discharged on the mold a: being lowered. The block or briquet may, however, be produced by a number of compressions, and the partly compressed block may be moved upwardly in the mold in the interval between successive compressions.

I have found that in the production of a cylindrical block 3 in diameter and 2" in depth a taper in the mold of th of an inch is effective when the pressure is gradually applied in two distinct stages reaching a final pressure at the end of the second stage of ten tons per square inch and the block advanced about half-an-inch in the interval between successive compressions into a part of the mold of larger internal diameter, within which the block may expand under the stresses imposed by the compression in the first stage.

It will however be understood that in the compression of the very finely comminuted material, a block may be produced in a single compression, during or after'which the block may be moved into a larger part of the mold and discharged from the mold by being passed through the widest part thereof. Or again, the compression of the block may be effected in tWo or other number of stages, and the block may be then moved while subject to compression or in the interval between compressions, or when the pressure in the mold is partly relieved or reduced.

The ends of the respective plungers b and c are recessed at b and 0 so that thus the rear edge of each block (Z is rounded at (Z as illustrated in Fig. 2.

1n the production of cylindrical blocks of a diameter of 3" and a depth of 2" in an hydraulic press, a pressure gradually in creasing up to ten tons per square inch in one operation has been found to be efiective, in the use of a good coking coal, but in the use of acoal which is less easily compacted under the conditions of the process, such as a, bituminous coal, I prefer to edect the compression in two or more stages, Such small cylindrical blocks l have found to have imparted to them by the compression such hardness and density that they will not disintegrate or break up on exposure to the weather or in carriage and transport. Blocks of larger size such as usually employed, for example, of dimensions lOXi'X4c can also be produced, but I prcfer with a view to secure a tougher character in a block of such large size and weight, to subject the very finely comminuted material intended for the production of such blocks to a preliminary compression in accordance with a method the subject matter of a pending application and forming no part of the present invention, to produce blocks, cakes. flakes, or bodies, which are then crushed to small particles to pass through a screen of 3; mesh, and 1 subject this crushed material to final coi'npression in one or a number of stages in the manner hereinbefore described, and 1 thereby produce blocks of great hardness and toughness.

The invention is further applicable to the production of hard blocks from anthracite, coke, or coke breeze with which it is necessary to incorporate pitch or other binder, in order to produce hard and dense blocks suitable for use as fuel. The anthracite, coke, or coke breeze and the pitch or other binder may be reduced to a very finely comminuted condition separately or together, and the mixture subjected to pressure in one or a number of stages in the manner hereinbefore described to produce blocks of fuel that burn brightly in an open grate. When using anthracite I prefer to roast it before reducing it to the condition of extreme fineness.

In the use of coal it is an object of the invention to avoid whenever possible the use of a binder, but when using dry coals I may incorporate a quantity of pitch or other similar substance in the proportion necessary to make good the deficiency in content of volatile matter. When using pitch for the purpose I reduce it to the same very finely divided condition as the coal before or after mixing the pitch and coal together and compress the mass in the manner hereinbefore described.

According to the invention in the use of coal as raw material blocks or briquets are produced having peculiar and novel characteristics in burning in that the fuel will smolder and be consumed completely in an open grate. It will, however, burn very slowly or very quickly. For example if in burning, the blocks or briquets are broken, the evolution of gas is rapid with comparatively little smoke, and with moderate ac cess of air the combustion develops rapidly, but if the large masses of fuel are left an broken, the combustion will develop slowly and the fire will remain alive slowly and. completely burning in a manner similar to anthracite in anthracite stoves. "in burning the evolution of smoke appears appreciably Nil! less than that resulting from the burning under the same conditions of-the same class of coal in its original state.

I may incorporate with the very finely comminuted raw material a small proportion of material that is less finely divided, but I employ the raw material in a substantially uniform condition of extreme fine- I claim 1. A method of manufacture of fuel blocks from carbonaceous substances, consisting in reducing the carbonaceous substance in a dry state to the substantially uniform condition of extreme fineness '(of example such as represented by 200 meshes to the linear inch) subjecting the dry carbonaceous substance in the said condition to high pressure in a completely inclosed mold space, and permitting the expansion 0% the block or briquet in a direction transverse to the line ofapplication of the high pressure applied, under the internal stresses created in the block or briquet as the result of its compression, to a high degree, substantially as described.

2. A method of manufacture of fuel blocks from carbonaceous substances, consisting in reducing the carbonaceous substance in a dry state to the substantially uniform condition of extreme fineness (for example such as represented by 200 meshes to the linear inch), subjecting the dry carbonaceous substance in the said condition to compressionin a plurality of stages, and permitting the expansion of the block or briquet in a direction transverse to the line of application of the pressure in the interval between the successive stages of compression substantially as described.

3. A new product of manufacture being a hard block or briquet of fuel, consisting of a carbonaceous substance of the character of coal, in a dry state and in the substantially uniform condition of extreme fineness'(for example such as represented by 200 meshes to thelinear inch) very closely and densely compacted, compressed and expanded, substantially as described.

4. A new product of manufacture being a hard block or briquet of fuel, consisting of a carbonaceous substance of the character of coal in the dry state, in the substantially uniform condition of extreme fineness (for example such as represented by 200 meshes to the linear inch) very closely and densely compressed and expanded, and which when burnt in an open grate is wholly consumed, substantially as described.

EDGAR ROUSE SUTGLIFFE.

Witnesses:

ERNALD Smrson MOSELEY, MALCOLM Snn'rmms'r. 

